In fact, it is rather an odd democracy in which nearly half the cabinet members are related to each other.

Accountability

But it is not quite that simple. One government minister, not a member of the royal family as it happens, told me he gets regular grillings from MPs, which he clearly does not much enjoy. A lawyer said he has actually won cases in court against royal princes.

Officially, Bahrain is now a constitutional monarchy.

If parliament passes a vote of no confidence in a minister, royal or not royal, the king has to sack him within seven days.

The Saudis have a nick-name for Bahrain - they call it "the bar" for short, because you can buy alcohol here

No, it has not actually happened yet, but they insist that it could.

How democratic is Bahrain? Well that depends on whether you consider the glass to be half full or half empty.

On one hand, ministers are answerable to parliament, although there is not a single woman member in the elected lower chamber.

There are dozens of political societies that campaign on human rights and constitutional reform.

On the other hand, the upper house of parliament is wholly unelected, the press is only semi-free and political parties are banned.

Judges have sole jurisdiction over family cases like divorce in the country's Sharia courts.

'The bar'

Ghada Jamsheer, a feisty women's rights campaigner, has run into trouble with the judges and now faces trial on charges of having insulted them.

"They say they don't like to see my hair," she tells me, pointing to her defiantly uncovered head. "Well, I don't like to see their beards."